He Drives, She Dies campaign is sexist -- Gerry

Gerry Ryan has slammed the new Road Safety Authority campaign "He drives, She dies," as sexist and biased.

Michael Lavery
– 06 August 2009 03:00 PM

And to judge from his 2FM show yesterday, a lot of his listeners agree with him.

Gerry admitted he was also angry over the hard-hitting clips and the message behind them.

He said: "The inference is that men are p***ed all the time and the women are Virgin Marys celebrating the latest appearance at the stump in Rathkeale.

"Absolute rubbish. That ad is sexist. It basically tars all men with the same brush -- the male sex as responsible for murdering people on a grand scale.

Noble

"The idea may have been noble but ... that ad doesn't work because it's biased and sexist."

Rose of Tralee Aoife Kelly joined forces with the RSA to launch the new campaign last month. It includes a 30-second radio promo.

It warns: "The next time a fella wants to take you for a spin and you don't trust his driving, don't even think about getting in -- because in too many collisions, he drives, she dies."

Road casualty statistics from the Road Safety Authority show that more than two-thirds (67pc) of female passengers killed in the 10-year period 1998 to 2007 were in a vehicle being driven by a male driver.

RSA chief Noel Brett defended the campaign. He said: "Women need to know that they are being killed through male-dominated driver errors, such as speeding and drink driving."

"Male drivers are four times more likely to be involved in a fatal collision than a female driver."